4 Preceptor Personality Types

The “Teacher”

1. First off is the “Teacher.” This nurse knows it all and loves sharing it with an orientee. S/he is loved by her coworkers and especially management because S/he will take on any orientee under any circumstances and try to teach the newbie the ropes. The only issue with “the teacher” is that s/he is often a perfectionist type (OK, all nurses are perfectionists, but s/he is extreme) and harbors some stress created by the dualism involved in teaching perfect practice while caring perfectly for patients. In other words, the teacher can snap at any moment. And watch out, because it will be a crack heard around the world, everyone will know about it, and the fallout can be severe.

My “teacher” preceptor cracked so hard she had to take a week off work. She was orienting another nurse who made a med error that was life threatening and WHAM, the “teacher” lost it big time.